Test Drive Our New Site! We have some improvements in the works that we're excited for you to experience. Click here to try our new, faster, mobile friendly beta site. We will be maintaining our current version of the site thru mid 2025, so you can switch back as our improvements continue.
Legislation Quick Search
Advanced Search
Pennsylvania State Senate
12/27/2024 06:51 AM
Pennsylvania State Senate
https://www.legis.state.pa.us/cfdocs/Legis/CSM/showMemoPublic.cfm?SPick=20250&chamber=S&cosponId=43376
Share:
Home / Senate Co-Sponsorship Memoranda

Senate Co-Sponsorship Memoranda

Subscribe to PaLegis Notifications
NEW!

Subscribe to receive notifications of new Co-Sponsorship Memos circulated

By Member | By Date | Keyword Search


Senate of Pennsylvania
Session of 2025 - 2026 Regular Session

MEMORANDUM

Posted: December 2, 2024 09:19 AM
From: Senator Art Haywood
To: All Senate members
Subject: Cesar Chavez Day
 
In the near future, I plan to introduce a resolution recognizing 31 March 2025 as “Cesar Chavez Day” in Pennsylvania. 

Cesar Chavez was a labor leader active in the late 1950’s through the 1990’s. Born in Arizona to an immigrant family, Cesar Chavez was a member of the United States Navy before moving to California to register farm laborers to vote. In 1962, he founded the National Farm Workers Association, a labor union active mostly in California. One of their most successful campaigns was the Delano Grape Strike, which employed a nationwide consumer boycott of non-union grapes. The strike resulted in the creation of the AFL-CIO-affiliated United Farm Workers union and a new collective bargaining agreement for over 10,000 farm workers. 

In addition to Cesar Chavez’s efforts in organizing labor protests, he forged close bonds with state officials to increase the power that workers have in negotiating labor agreements with business leaders. This culminated in the 1975 California Labor Relations Act. This Act set up a process where farm workers can enter into collective bargaining agreements with their employers. It also established an Agriculture Relations Board to investigate unfair labor practices against farm workers. 

Some of Cesar Chavez’s many other accomplishments include:
 
  • Serving as one of the first labor leaders to use exclusively peaceful protest techniques;
  • Leading a 250-mile march to Sacramento, California to bring attention to the condition of farm laborers;
  • Going on multiple hunger strikes to protest anti-organizing laws efforts; and
  • Receiving a posthumous Presidential Medal of Freedom by President Bill Clinton in 1994.
 
To honor a historic icon in the fight for labor rights in the United States, this resolution would recognize 31 March 2025 as “Cesar Chavez Day” in the Commonwealth. 

Please join me in sponsoring this resolution.